Tuesday, 7 October 2014

RESIDENTS WANT KIMAYIO TO SMASH COPS-CROOKS CARTEL IN KISUMU

Sample
this: A senior administration police officer is robbed at gunpoint at the
city’s CBD, moments later, he rushes to make a report at the nearby
Central Police Station and to his astonishment, he bumps into a man he
believes he spotted during the daylight robbery.

The
man he positively identifies, turns out to be a CID officer attached to
the same police station. A team is quickly assembled under the
instructions of the regional police boss led by the neighbouring Nyando
DCIO to probe the matter.

But
strange things begin to happen. Multiple sources, from within the police, the
same day, indicate that the junior CID officer has declined to go for
identification parade despite earlier communication to the complainant to that
effect.

Journalists
from various media houses who get wind of the juicy story rush to
the Nyanza police headquarters.

They
are forced to pitch camp at the offices only leaving in the evenings for two
days to just get a glimpse of this suspected officer in the hope that he will
be led to court. However, no such thing happens.

It
turns out that the same day the AP inspector identified as Paul Nyando was
making his report to the police, another victim, a 65-year-old man who had also
been robbed a week earlier of Sh400,000 at gunpoint moments after he withdrew
the money also mentioned the same CID officer by name.

The
man said that he picked the name of the officer because while driving the
escape car, one of the gangsters had called him by name when he almost hit
another car around Kondele area as they were speeding off.

The
name of the man driving the car used during the robbery matched that of the CID
officer who was identified on a separate incident by the AP Chief inspector
based in Lodwar who lost Sh250,000 in cash.

The
robbers took away his ATM and other documents and after abandoning him
near Ukweli area, went to Lwanda town where they made a withdrawal from the
same account using his ATM card.

Even
after being mentioned more than once by the victims of the robberies, and even
with the statements recorded, the CID officer suspected in the twin incidents
remains a free man.

It
was rumoured a few days after official complaints were lodged with the police
following the incident that he had been arrested and held in the
cells. However this could not be confirmed by the senior police officers
in Kisumu county who appeared to avoid commenting on the matter.

The
AP’s lawyer Aggrey Mwamu is reported to have written a letter to IG David
Kimaiyo to help push for the arrest of the officer who is still roaming the
streets of Kisumu executing his police duties unperturbed.

When
the media caught up with the Nyanza regional police chief to have him clarify
the matter, the officer said investigations havebegun. He even went on to assure the public
that no stone will be left unturned and that the victims will get justice.

But
the members of the public are now a worried lot. They fear that the police are
hellbent in shielding one of their own from facing prosecution.

The
killing of two people in Kisumu’s sprawling Manyatta slums in the wake of the
robbery incidents left the residents even more puzzled.

Police
claimed the two, one of whom was an administration police officer working in
Koibatek were suspected criminals. They said the two slain men had robbed a
businessman at the Tuff Foam Mattresses in Kisumu and were trailed by the
detectives who caught up with them at their hideout in Manyatta. This version
has been dismissed by the family members. According to them, the two were
in the house on that fateful day when the police stormed in.

A
member of the family said she was in the house with the deceased persons
together with AP’s child when the detectives came in. They ordered the wife of
the AP officer and their child to get out.

The
man, a brother-in-law of the slain AP were then shot while sitting in the
living room in cold blood. IPOA has visited the family to investigate the
killings.

The
killings caused bad blood between the APs and their counterparts from the
regular with the outgoing Kisumu AP commander Gradus Atinda publicly accusing
his colleagues of being trigger happy in a press conference he convened a day
after the shootings in his office.

He
claimed the AP and his relative were killed although they were not armed.
“This is wrong, they should have been arrested instead if the police felt they
had anything linking the two to any crime,” he added. Although the entire
police top brass in Kisumu has been transferred, residents feel the move will
not help stop some bad elements within the force from taking part in crime.

But
the locals believe criminals collude with junior police officers most of whom
have been in the area for over 10 years. They say they even work with
criminals masquerading as informers and unlicensed private investigators
who dine and merry with the police even driving their cars. It is the juniors
who have overstayed who have the networks.